Expressions of Liberty.

The concept of liberty has been in the forefront of the minds of African Americans ever since the beginning of slavery, and its importance continues to the present. To cope with the inability to achieve complete freedom, and with the oppressive state created by a lack of liberty, they developed ways to express their feelings about the elusiveness of freedom. The African American vision of liberty was born in the experiences of capture, the "Middle Passage" across the Atlantic, and slavery in the Americas. The creation of the black church was one of the most important efforts to achieve a semblance of freedom and independence. The members of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion (A.M.E.Z.) Church have a tradition of taking leadership roles in the black community that goes back to the African priest-warriors. Preaching and oratory also compensated for proscriptions against teaching slaves to read and write. The many written, sung, and instrumental forms through which African Americans expressed their feelings about liberty include the following: (1) the slave autobiography; (2) oratory on nationhood; (3) the spiritual; (4) the ringshout; and (5) jazz. A brief list of references is included. (FMW)